Noren let out a long, tired sigh. "Hmm! I had such a long foot walk yet my mind is thinking of exploring instead of getting a bit of rest." His whole body felt heavy and sore. With this thought, Noren layed down on the rough, dry ground. He pulled the straps of his bag loose and let the things inside spill out around him. He was too tired to care about the mess.
He slightly turned his body onto his right side while laying down. His fingers brushed through the small pile of his things. He picked up the hand watch and checked the time. The numbers glowed faintly in the dim evening light. "5:30 PM, seriously? My routine got completely messed up. I missed lunch, but I refilled my bag before departing from the mini mart." He had eaten a lot of snacks then, and his stomach still felt full. But a deep muscle soreness was still hanging out in his body. He decided to sleep for a bit. He closed his eyes, hoping the rest would make the ache go away.
Time slowly passed away. The sun went down completely, and the moon rose in the night sky, casting a soft, silver light.
Swoosh..! Crrrck!
A strange sound cut through the quiet. Noren suddenly woke from his sleep. He had a good sleep, but it did not remain long. His eyes snapped open. "What was that sound?" he whispered to the empty air.
Noren checked the surrounding area. His heart gave a little jump. A strange purple blur light came from the deep cave where the big, old stone gate was. It pulsed softly in the darkness. With an exciting face, Noren rushed towards it. His tiredness was completely forgotten.
He saw that the ancient letters carved on the stone gate were glowing in a bright purple color. At the moment, his mind raced. "Woah! It is glowing. By the way, how did it open? Did anyone come while I was asleep? No way. Even if someone came, I would be prisoned by them since it is a mystery. It was a common outcome from its keeper." He knew that guardians of secret places were often not friendly.
While slowly approaching it, the glowing suddenly stopped. The purple light vanished, leaving the cave dark again. Noren took a quick step back. Then, he watched in wonder as the glow started again after a few moments. He began a deep scanning of the area, his eyes searching for a clue. He found that he had blocked the moon light before. When his body blocked the light, the glowing stopped. He found the connection and followed the path of the light to see what was reflecting it.
He looked down at his watch. "This watch's glass is the one reflecting the moon light," he realized. "But only the big letters are glowing. That other big one remains dark." He needed to keep the light on the gate without standing in the way.
Noren had an idea. He replaced the watch with his fully released box cutter. He placed the box cutter on a rock in a horizontal position so its metal blade would catch the moonlight. Then he picked up the watch. He moved carefully, intentionally hiding the moon light behind his back with his body. After he reached the stone gate, Noren stepped out of the way of the moon light reflecting from the box cutter.
The three big ancient letters started to glowing again. But this time, the entire cave filled with a brilliant purple light. The ground under his feet shook. The cave shacked violently.
Mini rocks started to fell from the ceiling. Noren flinched, expecting to be hit. But the rocks and stones that touched the purple light from above while they fell did not reach the ground. They seemed to vanish into the glow. Except for Noren, he remains unscathed, safe inside the strange light. Then, with a deep, grinding rumble, the giant stone gate slowly opened.
After the complete open of the gate, what was before Noren was unrealistic to him. It was not a dark tunnel or another cave.
"Whaaaat?" he gasped. "A starry sky from a cave? What kind of law is this?" He saw a vast, endless space filled with countless shining stars and swirling galaxies. It was a view that should have been high above the earth, not deep inside a mountain. Noren did not panicked. He felt excited. All he thought at the moment was about entering. Even his mind did not padded him about his current earth situation, or the stories of people who disappear. Curiosity was the only thing he felt.
Noren took a deep breath and enters the starry portal.
Swoosh!
A feeling of incredible peace washed over him. "Wow! My both body and mind feel so relieved," he said. The soreness from his long walk was completely gone. "And this view. It is as if I am standing in the center of the universe!" He was surrounded by the beautiful, silent dance of stars and cosmic dust.
Then he noticed something strange. "Wait, what? How am I standing in the air?" Noren thought that he was standing on nothing. But as soon he entered, the purple light kept going beneath his foot. It formed a solid, shimmering path that seemed to be heading deep into the starry expanse.
What made Noren feel more astoning was that he still holds the watch without realising it. He looked down at it. The clock was ticking in a speed that he could not react to. The second hand was a blur. It was as if the entire area of the clock face was covered with its frantic tick, tick, ticking.
A cold fear gripped his heart. "Aaahh! Stop! Stop, you damn watch!" Noren's fear rised to a peak at that moment. The wild ticking felt wrong and scary in this quiet, timeless place. While he shouted, he checked his body with his free hand. His skin was still smooth. His muscles were still strong. It was still remain unaged. Seeing that he was not growing old in an instant, he could feel a bit relieved. But the watch in his hand kept spinning its hands, a tiny, frantic machine in the heart of infinity.
Noren looked back with a panicked face. The entrance he entered had disappeared. There was no cave, no stone gate, only the endless starry sky behind him. He got no way to go but to follow the shimmering light path where it was going. The path felt solid under his feet, like cool glass.
As he walked, he felt a strange change. His vision became sharper. He could see the fine details of distant nebulas, clouds of gas that looked like painted silk. His hearing picked up a soft, cosmic hum, a sound he was sure was not there before. "Could it be a higher dimension?" he wondered aloud, his voice small in the vast silence. "But why did not I faint? I am a third dimensional being. Ahhh, another mind crushing confusion!" He screamed in frustration, clutching his head.
While screaming, a new and terrifying thought crashed into his mind. He realized something vital. "Could it be artificial space? I am without any suits or special wearing. How am I breathing?" The air felt normal in his lungs, but there should be no air here at all.
This was a thought he should have had before entering. He thought it only now. That meant he did not choose to come this far on his own. Noren was pulled in without realising it by a force. An invisible power had drawn him deep into this strange place, and now he was trapped on a path with no way back.